World of Goo 2 is the sequel to 2008’s World of Goo by 2D Boy. The goal is to collect goo balls through various puzzles and challenges, with unique goo balls that reside in the game’s whacky landscapes helping you on your puzzle-solving journey. The Sign Painter from the original also returns, a mysterious figure who’s rooting for your success. But does the sequel live up to its predecessor? Or did this game fail to carry itself to victory?

The gameplay of World of Goo 2 is similar to the last. The goal is to build a tower of goo, bridging gaps and reaching new heights, so you can transfer the goo balls into pipes. While there are some familiar goo ball species, like the black and green ones, the game introduces new balls with new abilities. For example, there are ones designed like match sticks that create a chain of fire, ones that can absorb liquid in different ways, and many more for you to discover. They all add a new twist to the game and create new challenges for those willing to face it. In saying that, the gameplay in the sequel is much more challenging than the last game, making it more fun and interesting because it tests you with your previous and new knowledge of the game’s goo mechanics.

One level had enough of these goo balls with liquid absorption abilities to suck up every ounce of goo liquid to produce new goo balls to complete the challenge. This required a lot of bridge-building using balloons and regular goo balls from the first game, as well as utilising the new mechanics with this new type of goo species. The game does a great job of catering to new and old players, expanding on the offering whilst maintaining the game’s strong identity.

First impressions-wise, World of Goo 2 holds many similarities to the original game, but with a fresh coat of paint. From the game’s art to its soundtrack, at least half of it is the same. Meanwhile, some aspects have improved from the previous instalments. For example, giving the human characters actual voice lines. Gone are the days of pure gibberish that sounds like something you’d hear from Rabbids. Now characters have proper lines.

Goo balls still use the similar sound they make but that’s fine since it’s part of the charm. It’s great that this game tries to tap into the players’ nostalgia through its art design because it’s been a long time since the first game was released. Perhaps the art and the music played a role in bringing back old gameplay memories that were locked away for so long. It’s great listening to familiar music from the first World of Goo game as its calming and it can even help reduce feelings of stress.

World of Goo 2 seems to be more experimental, especially once you hit Chapter 4. It feels like most of the game’s budget went towards this specific chapter because it feels like a completely brand-new game. It featured new storytelling techniques and different gameplay mechanics outside of what’s already established. I never expected to play a detective point-and-click mystery game with a title known for building goo towers.

What’s also great about this detective story is that, while it’s clear that this story is dark, the game tries to tone down the mature topics, like sex/infidelity, corporate rivalries, greenwashing, and alcohol. A line that is still memorable to this day is “You’re just a fool in drag, just like everybody else,” said by a drag queen character in the game.

While the game is super fun and a great comeback, it does have some flaws. For one, the new goo species seem to be underutilised. One species helped to create light, an effect that seemed very neat as it lit up dark areas. But it broke my heart to learn that it was limited to that one puzzle and was never seen again. Isn’t it the point of puzzle games to learn new mechanics and carry them to the next level? Why are some goo balls less significant than others?

Also, while it was cool to have voice lines for the human characters, why do some of them sound absolutely terrible? It’s like the audio was recorded using very cheap gear and it’s unknown if this was intentional or not. At least most of the voice lines sound really good, but others certainly do not.

As mentioned earlier, it feels like most of the game’s budget was put towards Chapter 4. It feels like that because while that chapter was impressive, it would have been great if all of those ideas weren’t isolated in one area. It just shows that World of Goo 2 had the chance to step away from its predecessor’s shadows and become its own unique game as a sequel. But I guess the devs wanted to stick with familiarity. Hopefully, this experimental and unique gameplay feature will return in a later instalment or a new spin-off title of some sort.